slides - 2

Japan – Land of the Rising Sun
Shinzo Abe – new PM

Kuril Islands – source of dispute with Russia

World’s second and Asia’s largest economy

Oldest still ruling Royal House in the world

Monarch sits on Chrysanthemum Throne

China – 3rd largest by area


Hu Jintao – President; Wen Jiabao – PM

Is building GWADAR port in Pakistan, also Karakoram Highway to Pakistan

World’s largest FOREX reserves - $1 trillion (Oct ’06)

Received highest FDI in 2005-06

Built THREE GORGES DAM on Yangtze River, world’s largest hydro-electric dam

Built world’s highest railway – linking Lhasa in Tibet with Golmund; nicknamed Qing - 1

Thailand
King Bhumibol Adulyadej completes 60 years in power, world’s longest reigning monarch

Thaksin Shinawatra deposed as PM in a military coup

Surayud Chulanot is Interim PM

Bangkok – capital, Baht - currency

Myanmar – Stratocracy
General Than Shwe – Leader No.1, visited India in 2006

Aung San Suu Kyi – pro-democracy leader under house arrest since 1990

Capital moved from Yangon to Pyinmana (aka Naypyidaw)

Sri Lanka / Bhutan
Mahinda Rajapakse – Prez

Peace talks between SL government and the LTTE are brokered by NORWAY


Bhutan - world’s first no-smoking country

Jigme Singye Wangchuk is the King of Bhutan

Pakistan – First Islamic Republic
zardari– Prez; Gilani– PM

Balochistan leader, Akbar Khan Bugti, killed by Pak military

Proposed Iran gas pipeline to India via Pakistan

NWFP – stronghold of al-Qaeda & Taliban

Latest – Attack on madrassa in Bajaur kills 80

Shoaib Akhtar & Mohammad Asif banned for taking banned substances

Afghanistan

Hamid Karzai – Prez;

NATO forces battling resurgent Taliban in the south

Taliban headed by Mullah Omar

Durand Line – boundary line with Pak is source of dispute



Iran - Land of the Aryans
Mahmoud Ahmedinejad – Prez

Ayotallah Khameini – Spiritual Head

Secret nuclear weapons program

World’s 2nd largest gas producer & 4th largest oil exporter

Has developed missiles like
HOOT, a torpedo; Shahab, Fajr, and Shaegah series.

Iraq – Mesopotamia
Jalal Talabani – Prez; Nuri al-Maliki – PM

Saddam gets death penalty for Dujail Massacre (1982)

Abu Ayyub al-Masri, al-Qaeda chief in Iraq, successor to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi

Moqtada al-Sadr – head of Mahdi Army, Shiite militia group

Israel – World’s 1st Theocratic State (1948)
Tel Aviv – capital; Knesset – parliament

Ehud Olmert – PM; Ex-PM Ariel Sharon is in coma

Prez Moshe Katzav charged with rape

Mossad – secret service

Owns Barak missile system, supplied to India

Is building a Barrier Wall to separate it from Palestinian areas


Lebanon Jordan
Nicknamed Switzerland of the Middle East

Emile Lahoud – Prez; Fuoad Siniora – PM

Beirut – Capital; Nicknamed Paris of the Middle East

Israel attacked Hezbollah strongholds


Hashemite Kingdom

King Abdullah II – HoS

Lost West Bank to Israel in 1967 War

Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, slain al-Qaeda leader in Iraq, belonged to Jordan

Syria Turkey
Bashar al-Assad – Prez

Accused of interference in Lebanon & Iraq

Indicted by UN in killing of former Lebanese PM, Rafiq Hariri

Part of new “Axis of Evil”


Recep T Erdogan – PM

Nicknamed Sickman of Asia

Controversy over Armenian Genocide

Occupies part of Cyprus


Sudan – Largest African nation
Prez Omar al-Bashir, ranked world’s worst dictator (’06)

Darfur Genocide – 4 lakh dead over 4 years

Janjaweed, Govt-backed Arab Muslim militia against non-Arab Muslims

Civil war in the south between Arab Muslims & Christians – Africa’s oldest still running civil war


South Africa – Rainbow Nation
Thabo Mbeki – Prez;

Second largest HIV infected population after India

Desmond Tutu, recipient of Gandhi Peace Prize (’06)

Launches centenary of Gandhiji’s launching of Satyagraha Movement in that country

3 capitals - Pretoria (administrative), Bloemfontein (judicial), and Cape Town (legislative)

Name of Pretoria changed to Tshwane


Africa in a nutshell
Congo goes to 1st elections in 40 yrs,
Joseph Kabila is Prez

Somalia falls to Islamists (Capital – Mogadishu)

Somali forces clash with forces from Putland,
semi-autonomous region of Somalia

Africa Union – HQ at Addis Ababa, 53 members

Uganda – Prez is Yoweri Museveni, accused of genocide against Acholi Tribe

Cameroon hosts Race of Hope for Africa, a marathon



Brazil – 5th largest country by area
Luiz Inacio LULA da Silva is Brazil prez again

Largest ETHANOL producer

Member of BRIC & IBSA

Brasilia – Capital (named after a wood type)

GOL airline crash kills 160 in October 2006


South America in a nutshell
Venezuela reelects Hugo Chavez as prez; Chavez calls George Bush a “devil” while at the UN

Eva Morales is elected Bolivia prez

Shining Path (Sendero Luminoso) – Marxist militant group in Peru

Peru’s prez is Alan Garcia

Augusto Pinochet, former dictator of Chile, is being tried for crimes under his rule (1973 – 1990)


USA – 300 million pop
Democrats win control of H of R & Senate

Robert Gates is new defence secretary

Largest exporter & importer – overall; biggest seller of military equipment

Ben Bernanke – new Federal Reserve chief

Refuses to sign Kyoto Protocol & shuns International Criminal Court

Sarbanes-Oxley Act – for corporate governance

Fence built on U.S. border with Mexico to curb illegal immigration & drugs trade



Central America in a nutshell
Panama agrees to a new wider Panama Canal

Felipe Calderon is elected prez of Mexico

Daniel Ortega, former Marxist leader, elected prez of Nicaragua

Cuban prez Fidel Castro temporarily hands over power to Raul Castro (his brother)

Havana, Cuba’s capital, hosts 14th NAM Summit in Sept 2006, which Dr Singh attends



Europe in a nutshell
Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany, is ranked World’s Most Powerful Woman by Forbes

Hungary sees protests against PM Ferenc Gyurcsany’

Romania & Bulgaria join EU (EU membership - 27)

Romano Prodi defeats Silvio Berlusconi to become Italy’s new PM

Denmark – PM Anders Fogh Rasmussen



World Trade Organisation
Successor to the GATT

Established on Jan 1, 1995

WTO HQ – Geneva, Switzerland

DG – Pascal Lamy (France)

WTO has 150 members

Vietnam is 150th member

6th Ministerial Meeting to be held in Hong Kong




International – Who’s who
Ban ki Moon (S Korea’s foreign minister) succeeds Kofi Annan (Ghana) as new Secretary General of the UN

Margaret Chan (China) is new DG of WHO

Nobel laureate Gunter Grass admits to working for Waffen SS, Hitler’s combat force

“Crocodile Hunter” Steve Irwin dies in a freak accident involving a Sting Ray bite
International – Who’s who
Indra Nooyi – PepsiCo CEO, also ranked world’s most powerful businesswoman

Shashi Tharoor – UN Under Secretary General for Communications & Public Information

Tharoor – author of The Great Indian Novel, Riot – A Novel, India: From Midnight to the Millennium, Bookless in Baghdad, & Show Business

Business – Facts & Figures
Exxon Mobil – world’s largest company by revenue, profits, & market capitalisation
IOC – India’s largest company by revenue
RIL – India’s largest company by market capitalisation
GM – largest auto company, foll by Toyota & Ford
Intel – largest chip-maker, launches CORE DUO 2
Diageo – largest spirits company (owns Smirnoff, JW)
McDonald’s – largest fast food chain
Vodafone – largest mobile company by revenue






International Who’s who
World Bank – HO at Washington, Prez - Paul Wolfowitz (US)

IMF – HO at Washington, MD – Rodrigo Rato (Spain)

ADB – HO at Manila, Prez – Haruhiko Kuroda (Japan)

European Commission – HO at Brussels, Prez – Jose Manuel D Barroso (Portugal)